The film “Hoosiers”
The power of others over your business
Often overlooked zoning regulations, land use restrictions, easements, rights of way, and legally shared facilities can be troublesome for a garden store. Just when you have figured out the solution, a little used ordinance, rule or previous agreements to a property use can derail your plans. The smart purchaser will seek a land use/zoning professional to spot these restrictions well ahead of time. Just as important, that professional can gain information as to when a business interruption may occur because of the re-building of a nearby road or the construction of a new power line or water source to the property. Of course, all of these restrictions can be appealed for change, modification, or elimination. But don’t rely on any success in an appeal. They are rare and very expensive to pursuit.
The use of the property for outdoor activities
Some municipalities restrict outdoor activities Because of the explosion of outdoor flee markets and parking lot sales and complaints from nearby home owners about open air manufacturing on land, local governments have been forced to act on limiting outdoor activities. Sometimes that outdoor activity allowable is based on the square footage of permanent buildings on the site. Other ordinances restrict outdoor activities based on the overall square footage of the land. As we know, a garden store business is all about outdoor activities.
Outdoor lighting allowances or restrictions
The “dark skies” movement, a national effort to restrict the amount, kinds, and direction of outdoor lighting in communities is beginning to limit uses on all kinds of property, even commercial and manufacturing zones. Many garden stores need outdoor lighting in the early spring, late fall and winter seasons for their livelihood. Be sure you know the restrictions before you proceed. Selling Christmas Trees in the dark is no fun.
The use of outdoor speakers for announcements or music.
Outdoor speakers for music and announcements have been extremely helpful for outdoor areas of a garden store. Neighbors’ often complain about them regardless of whether they are used respectfully or negligently. Some local governments have banned them completely. Check it out
Sound decibel restrictions in the outdoor sales area.
Some cities and towns have placed a maximum limit on sound decibels that can originate from a property. This limit may, for example, restrict a garden store from having a live Jazz combo during Mothers Day. Find out if the local ordinances have a decibel limit, and test the decibels against common activities in the outdoor area of the garden center.
Restrictions on the use of plant care materials, fungicides, fertilizers or insecticides on the property.
Height and architectural restrictions of any structures
Areas of restriction often overlooked are height and architectural restrictions on commercial buildings. Some municipalities have adhered to “themes” for their town. Santa Fe New Mexico, with the southwest them and Leavenworth, Washington, with a German Bavarian look are good examples. Local laws require that the buildings and structures reflect the theme. There is often an accompanying height restriction on buildings and other structures. There can be some extra expense complying with these themes and in some cases will limit the use of tall greenhouses and outdoor structures.
Access restrictions to and from the property
The percentage of permanent landscaping materials for the use and any extra landscape screening to the surrounding properties
What sounds like a minor irritant may affect your garden store business more than you know. That is the case with landscaping requirements for a piece of land. Permanent landscaping can suck up an awful lot of selling area of a garden store, especially, landscaping “islands” in parking areas and screening landscaping on the property perimeters. Familiarize yourself with the most recent landscaping requirements before making a decision on the property
The restrictions of delivery trucks to the site.
Fencing restrictions
Restrictions for residential living on the property
One particular possible restriction is of great importance to the development of green garden gates; not allowing residential living on the site of the commercial business. Although this limitation is rare, for our stores, it is a deal breaker. Our model is predicated on allowing residential living on our locations.
Signing restrictions
Restrictions on the use of the existing water well
If there is existing water well on the property, which is the case with the property for green garden gates, don’t assume that the well can be used for the business. The local governmental agencies may prohibit the use of the well if municipal water is available to the site. A quick check with the agencies controlling the well is important.
Unusually high requirements for customer parking areas
Many communities have considered parking lots in commercial retail area as blighted and unsightly for the “look” of the town. Some officials have gone to great lengths in limiting how parking lots can be constructed. There are minimum parking spaces depending on the use of the land, large numbers of handicapped parking spaces, and sometimes tremendous requirements for landscaping on the perimeter of the parking area and with fully landscaped and irrigated “islands” within the parking area. There can be restrictions on the type of surface for the parking areas with a percentage being asphalt or concrete and a percentage required to be only gravel or grass areas for parking. Building a parking area to these standards can add huge costs to the garden store development
Irrigation water retention or filtering system requirements
New local, state and national laws have been adopted that may require all irrigation water generated from the property to be collected and in some cases filtered and retained on the property recycled again onto the irrigated areas. This requirement adds a large expense; installing collection piping under the plant display areas, building and equipping a filtration storage area and significant energy maintenance costs operating this system, The days of irrigation runoff to the ground water are gone. Plan on this expense.
“We were humming right along that second season in my garden store. And then it happened. The city closed off the street and blocked all the entrances to the place. For the next four months, they tore up the asphalt and rebuilt the pavement. I was dead in the water. I layed off all my employees and locked up the place.”
Garden store owner
Others have plans that could seriously affect whether the garden store will be a success or failure. The governmental agencies that have absolute control over the adjoining roadways, the utilities, and the types of uses for the neighboring lands need to be consulted before the deal is made for the property. All garden store owners will face these disruptions in the life of the business. A roadway is closed right in the middle of the spring season, the water lines or the power source are re-built causing irrigation interruptions and electrical outages during the hot summer months. The change in land use can also cause havoc. The local zoning board may decided to allow a a beef processing and slaughter house to be construction right across the street sending horrible odors walfing into the noses of your customers as they select your petunias.
Before a purchase is finalized on the property, look carefully at all the controlling governments that can affect your business. Examine their “future plan” for the area and their immediate needs to “upgrade” in your area. Ask to see the plan, called a “comprehensive plan” for the land use in your area. “Don’t get caught watching the paint dry.”
Easements, rights of way, liens, judgements and shared property agreements.
The title report on the property should tell it all. The title company is insuring that all the public records have been examined and all the issues that “cloud” the title will be in the report. If it is not on the report, you get to collect from the title company. Sometimes, however these documents are not recorded with the local courthouse, the title company does not pick it up and there is a knock on the door with a man with a piece of paper holding trouble for you. It is rare but it does happen.
SURPRISE!!
Easments and rights of ways
The road and power line easements are the most common. The road that is in front of the property is more that what is seen. There is the little item about all of that square footage that is controlled by the highway department off the asphalt leading toward your land. It may be only five wide wide and no big deal. It may be as much as thirty to fifty feet eating into what you thought was land you could use for your little garden store. There will come a day when they will want that land so be prepared to knock down your fence and hand it over.
The power line easements running in your property are less disruptive but a real bother occasionally. Nothing can be built under them, nothing can be planted under them that will interfere with the lines. Further, the power company in the easement must have the absolute right to have a pathway to drive their trucks right through your garden store to get to them for repairs. So plan for that to happen in your design.
Sometimes water easements occur when, for example, a municipal water canal is running along your property. They, like the power guys, will need to get in there once in a while and that means you sometimes have to make way for the trucks right through your business!
Liens and judgements
If the farmer did not pay for work on the farm, there could be a lien placed on the property demanding payment when the property is sold or transferred. Perhaps, an injury occurred and there was a court judgement that the farmer failed to pay. Likewise that money is to be paid before the property is sold or transferred. Lending agencies and banks that make the property loan will demand that these liens and judgements be paid to make the title “clean”. But if the sale is done in cash or by private contract without the use of a title company, there will be a BIG knock on the door and a big headache. Make sure the title is “clean”, demand that the seller “cleans” the title or be prepared to pay more dollars than the agreed price when you hear the knock.
Shared property agreements
Thirty five years ago two farmers sat down on the old chairs outside the local cafe. They needed to rebuild a little washed out road on their shared property line to get to the upper pastures. A short piece of the road, because of the washout had to be moved to higher ground one hundred feet onto one of the farmers land. They wrote the agreement to share the road on a paper menu and signed it. This year the land was sold by the son of the deceased farmer for a garden store and nursery. The garden store owner received a clean title for the land and started construction of a greenhouse on that old roadbed. Then came a knock on his door. It was the neighboring farmer holding the old menu in his hand. The greenhouse structure was knocked to the ground and moved elsewhere. The land could never be used for anything but a road. It was never recorded. It was never mentioned in the sale. The new owner of the land was unable to use a hundred foot strip of this land running the entire length of the property.
Shared property agreements often are drawn because of the need for access between adjacent owners. Sometimes agreements can be for well water rights where each person is allowed to draw irrigation water for their needs. In many cases, the agreements may not be recorded at all. They only come to light when the use of the land changes. TALK TO THE NEIGHBORS ABOUT THIS LAND BEFORE PURCHASING.
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